Who runs the Pensions Archive?

Following discussions by a group of concerned pensions professionals that began in late 2002, The Pensions Archive Trust was constituted in August 2005 as a registered company, limited by guarantee.  From February 2008, the Trust has been granted charitable status under registered number 1122633. 

An Advisory Committee comprised of the members of the Board and the Secretary and Accountant, together with Professor David Blake, Ian Eggleden and Neville Otty, has been appointed to advise the Board in the setting up of the Pensions Archive.

The Board appointed the late Alastair Ross Goobey as  the first President of The Pensions Archive Trust and may additionally invite other key influential pensions people to become Vice-Presidents.

• Alastair Ross Goobey CBE, the President of The Pensions Archive Trust, died on 2 February 2008 aged 62.  Read obituary 

Chairman

Alan Herbert                           

     In 2001, Alan Herbert, Chairman of The Pensions Archive Trust, saw the need for establishing
     a Pensions Archive to record the history and development of pension provision in the United Kingdom.
     The project was announced in 2002 after he had taken a number of soundings which confirmed there
     was general support for it.

     Alan retired as Head of Pensions of BP in 1997, after a career in pensions in the brewing, food
     and oil industries spanning 37 years.  He was a non-executive director of Liberty International
     Pensions Ltd (1997-2000) and of Dunnett Shaw & Partners Ltd (2000-2005).  He has been Chairman
     of the Advisory Council of The Occupational Pensions Defence Union Limited since 1997 and will be
     retiring during 2007.

     He sits on three trustee boards and chairs two of them. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of
     Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and the Pensions Management Institute.  He was a member
     of the Occupational Pensions Board and of the Pensions Panel of the Confederation of British Industry. 
     He served for a period as a council member of the National Association of Pension Funds.

 

 

Directors

Dr. Yally Avrahampour

     Yally Avrahampour has worked as a Vice President of Merrill Lynch International Bank since 1997. 
     He recently completed a doctorate, conducted at Essex University, on setting of investment policy
     by UK defined benefit pension funds over the past 60 years. 

     He has presented his work at conferences of the Academy of Management and the American Sociological
     Association and has been a visiting student at the London School of Economics (2000-2001) and
     Columbia University (2003-2004).

     He was initially involved with The Pensions Archive Trust as a member of the Advisory Committee and
     was appointed a Director in 2007.

 

 

  

Jonathan Bull

       Jonathan Bull is Executive Director of the Occupational Pensions Defence Union (opdu) and
       Trustee Risk Management Limited (trm).  He helped establish opdu in 1997 with the assistance
       of a group of independent professionals and representatives from pension schemes. opdu and
       trm are managed by Thomas Miller & Co Ltd (specialist providers of insurance and risk
       management services since 1885) of which Jonathan has been a director since 1985.  Pension
       funds holding total combined assets in excess of £115 billion have joined opdu.

       He is a lawyer with 30 years' experience in insurance; a member of the Law Society, PMI &
       NAPF; a frequent conference speaker and contributor to pensions journals.

       He has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust since its inception and was appointed
       a Director in 2005.

 

 

Maurice Oldfield

       After education at the London School of Economics and National Service in the Royal Navy,
       Maurice Oldfield joined Proctor & Gamble Limited, becoming UK Pensions Manager in 1956,
       before moving to Remington Rand Limited as Pensions Manager in 1961.  From 1966 until 1990,
       he was Group Pensions Manager of Allied Breweries, with responsibility for pension
       arrangements for businesses in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, East Africa,
       USA and Canada. 

       Over 500 pension schemes of companies acquired in the UK were incorporated into the main
       fund, including those of J. Lyons & Company Limited.  He became a Fellow of the Pensions
       Management Institute in 1976, Chairman of National Association of Pension Funds in 1982 and
       became the first Chairman of the European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP).  He has
       also been Chairman of the Pre-Retirement Association and Chairman of PARITY.  

       In 1980, he established Kontax Limited, as a company within Allied Breweries, to provide
       pension schemes advice to small brewers, a business which he subsequently purchased and, after
his retirement, enlarged to include schemes of small companies other than brewers.  While Kontax was sold to Abbey National
in 1995, its activities in trusteeship and pension documentation have been retained in another company, Understanding &
Communication Limited, which Maurice had established in 1982.

He is the author of the five editions of Understanding Pension Schemes and Editor of the Pensions Management Institute Handbook.
He has also contributed numerous articles to pensions magazines and newspapers.

He has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust since its inception and was appointed a Director in 2005.

Geoff Oldham

       After more than 12 years as an Actuarial Clerk with the Standard Life Assurance Company in
       Edinburgh, in 1969 Geoff Oldham joined Westland Aircraft as Pensions Administrator. 
       From 1977, he became Group Pensions Manager of Meyer International plc (now St. Gobain
       Building Products) for 25 years until his retirement in 2002. 

       A Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute, he served for a time on the Committee of the
       City & Eastern Region of the NAPF.

       He has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust since its inception and was appointed a
       Director in 2005.

 

 

 

Mike Young                             

     Mike Young has had a continuous involvement in the UK occupational pensions movement for
     over 40 years, actually managing company pension schemes for 33 of those years until his
     retirement 10 years ago. 

     He also found time to be Hon. Treasurer of the National Association of Pension Funds (twice!),
     a member of the Occupational Pensions Board (the then regulating body) and the founder of the
     Pensions Research Accountants Group.

     This was in 1976 and, as the Group's President, Mike remains a member of the Group's governing
     body.  Qualifying originally as a Chartered Accountant, he has been a Fellow the Pensions
     Management Institute from its inception and his present part-time retirement job involves a
     thorough knowledge of how funds are invested.

     He has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust from the outset and was appointed a
     Director in 2005.

 

 
Advisory Committee Members

Professor David Blake

       Dr David Blake is Professor of Pension Economics and Director of the Pensions Institute
       at Cass Business School, London; Chairman of Square Mile Consultants, a training and
       research consultancy; and Co-Founder with JP Morgan of the Lifemetrics Index. 

       He is a consultant to many organizations, including JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche
       Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, Paribas Capital Markets, McKinsey and Co., the Government
       Actuary's Department, the Financial Services Authority, the Department for Work and Pensions,
       HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Prime Minister's Policy Directorate, the International
       Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

       In June 1996, he established the Pensions Institute, which undertakes high-quality research
       on all pensions-related issues and publishes details of its research activities on the internet.

       A member of the Advisory Committee, he has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust
       since its inception.

Ian Eggleden

       Ian Eggleden is a Principal with Mercer Limited and his entire career has been devoted 
       to the world of pensions since starting out as an actuarial student in 1963.  His early
       years were spent in insurance with Commercial Union (now Aviva) after which he moved
       into consulting with Wigham Poland and Stewart Wrightson, including two years as
       Pensions Manager of Miles Druce (now part of GKN).

       He joined Sedgwick in 1988 and became Managing Director of their UK consulting company,
       and later Chairman of the Central European Group.  Sedgwick was acquired by Mercer in
       1998 when he was appointed as a European Partner and he is now a Principal advising
       corporate clients and trustees on strategic pension issues.

       He is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute and was a member of its Council from
       1997 to 2003, and was elected President of the Institute in 2001 and 2002.

A member of the Advisory Committee, he has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust since its inception.

Neville Otty

     Following National Service with REME, Neville Otty was called to the Bar in 1962.

     His career since then has spanned more than 40 years with a range of organizations
     involved in pensions and benefits consultancy, namely Glanvill Enthoven/Jardine
     Glanvill (1961-1982), Stewart Wrightson (1983-1987), Willis Faber (1988-1990) Noble
     Lowndes/Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (1990-1994) EBS consultants (1994 – 1996) and finally
     Sun Life of Canada (1997 – 2003).

     Neville was a founder member of the International Employee Benefits Association which
     was formed in 1994 to develop a diploma qualification in international employee benefits.
     He was also a founder member of the Double Century Club formed in 1975 to develop knowledge
     in life assurance and pensions in the European Community. 

     He is an Associate of the Pensions Management Institute appointed in 1976 and a Member of
     the Chartered Insurance Institute.  He was a founder member of the Association of Pensions
     Lawyers.  He is also a Volunteer Adviser for The Pensions Advisory Service.

A member of the Advisory Committee, he has been involved with The Pensions Archive Trust since its inception.

 

Company Secretary

Chris Bedford                      

     Chris Bedford graduated in law from King's College, University of London, in 1965, and the
     first 5 years of his career was as Administrative Secretary for a milk and dairy products
     trade organisation.  He subsequently spent nearly 15 years with Northern Foods, initially
     in personnel management, then progressing to company secretarial work and, in particular,
     pension scheme management. 

     Thereafter, he specialised in corporate pensions management, as Pensions Controller with
     United Biscuits (1985–1989), then as Corporate Pensions Manager of British Aerospace (1989–1994),
     as Manager, Glaxo Group Pensions with Glaxo Wellcome (1994–1996) and finally, from 1996 until
     his retirement in 2002, as Director of Pensions for London Regional Transport.

     He has been involved with the Pensions Archive Trust, as its Company Secretary, since 2005.

 

 

 

Accountant

Robin Roads

      Robin Roads is a Chartered Accountant who joined General Electric Company as Pensions
      Accountant in 1968. He left GEC to join Grand Metropolitan in a similar capacity in 1977
      (reporting to Alan Herbert).

      He later became Accountant to Bovis Lend Lease which was starting a new pension scheme, and
      retired from Bovis on 30 September 2007.

      He was appointed Accountant to The Pensions Archive Trust in 2006.